Your guide to all things prospect, courtesy of Jonathan Mayo

Results tagged ‘ Texas Rangers ’

Sorry for the short delay, but it’s now time to take a look at the AL West prospects. As always, here are the links to the organizational previews and the Top 20 lists, followed by the OMG (One More Guy) from each team in the division:

Astros — Jio Mier, SS — Still young and talented enough at a premium position to not give up on. There are other SS now in the system, so he’ll have to get it going.

Angels — Natanael Delgado, OF — 16-year-old signed this summer, chance to be RF type. May take a long time, but considerable upside.

A’s — David Freitas, C — Offensive-minded backstop came in the Kurt Suzuki trade, hit well following bump to Double-A post-trade.

Mariners — Patrick Kivlehan, 3B — Rutgers football standout decides to play baseball again as a senior; wins Big East Triple Crown, then Northwest League MVP. Raise your hand if you want to see more.

Rangers — Hanser Alberto, SS — That’s right, another shortstop prospect in this system (though he has played a little 3B). He’s gotten Elvis Andrus comparisons, surprise… and earned a promotion to the Carolina League before he turned 20

The list of top 10 guys at second hasn’t been too deep in the past, but I have to say, this year’s version isn’t too bad. Read the story or just check out the list.

There are even some worthwhile prospects to put on the 11-15 list. Check it out.

Stefen Romero, Mariners — He’s hit .318/.368/.534 in his Minor League career so far. An argument can be made that he belonged in the top 10.

Grant Green, A’s — He started as a shortstop, then moved to the outfield and now is back in the infield at second, which is a good home for him. The bat has always had a chance to contribute.

Rougned Odor, Rangers — The Rangers are good at developing shortstop prospects, why not on the right side of second base? Odor can hit, with a little pop, and can run a little, too.

Ronny Rodriguez, Indians — Yes, he’s nore of a shortstop now and has the skills to stay there. But if he’s going to play in Cleveland with Francisco Lindor someday, he’ll have to move and he did play 45 games at second in 2012.

Angelo Gumbs, Yankees — He has plus speed and is a basestealing threat. He only knows one speed and continues to improve defensively.

Quick Star of the Day from Friday, again an in-person account, though the choices from the Surprise-Phoenix game are somewhat limited.

But I’ll mention the opposing shortstops. The Braves’ Nick Ahmed had just one hit, but it was a home run. The UConn product, Rising Stars participant and theBraves’ No. 10 prospect, is hitting .326 this fall after a solid first full season in the Carolina League. But the Star goes to the other shortstop, the one for Surprise. Luis Sardinas is No. 7 on the Rangers’ Top 20. Just 19, Sardinas had a fine full-season debut, hitting .291 with 32 steals in the South Atlantic League. In the AFL, he’s hitting .364 in 33 at-bats. He went 3-for-4 on Friday and continues to impress scouts. Doesn’t seem fair, for a system that already has Elvis Andrus in the big leagues and Jurickson Profar knocking on the door soon, does it?

And we have 2 Stars of the Day to hand out, for Friday and Saturday. First, Friday:

While the Marlins’ Kyle Jensen gets a tip of the cap for his 4-for-5 day at the plate for Phoenix (to go along with 3 RBIs), B3 has to go with another pitcher as Friday’s Star of the Day. Any 1-0 game in the AFL stands out and while Indians LHP T.J. House didn’t figure into the decision of Scottsdale’s win by that score, he certainly did his part. House went five hitless innings for the Scorpions, walking three and striking out four. He’s now given up one run on three hits over eight innings in the AFL, following a season that saw him finish third in the organization in strikeouts and fourth in WHIP, BAA and wins.

And now, from Saturday:

The scores from Saturday look much more like the Fall League we’ve all been used to over the years — one game 16-10, another 12-11. Kudos to the aforementioned Sardinas for homering and driving in four runs. But Saturday’s Star is awarded to Josh Prince of the Brewers. Prince, a former shortstop who made the transition to the outfield during the regular season, did what a leadoff man is supposed to for the Phoenix Desert Dogs. He went 3-for-3 with two walks, getting on base all five times he came to the plate. He scored two runs and drove in three, walking and scoring the winning run in the bottom of the ninth. He also fell a home run short of the cycle. The only downside for the speedster who his hitting .433 in the AFL thus far is that he got caught stealing twice (once via pickoff).

Rangers first base prospect Chris McGuiness went 4-for-5 with three RBIs, falling just a triple short of the cycle (in over 1,500 professional plate appearances, McGuiness has just one triple, so this isn’t exactly shocking). McGuiness, a product of the Citadel, came to the Rangers from the Red Sox as part of the Jarrod Saltalamacchia deal. He’s coming off a solid 2012 campaign in Double-A where he finished fourth in the Texas League in homers and seventh in slugging percentage.

He’s playing in Surprise with some of his former organization-mates from Boston. Bryce Brentz, the Red Sox’s No. 4 prospect (and No. 70 overall), drove in a pair of runs in Wednesday’s game as well.

Hello all, I hope everyone enjoyed their respective holidays and perhaps some time off.

No rest for the weary at B3 (actually, I’m not weary, it just seemed like the thing to say). Time for another update of the Top 50 prospects. I guess the big news is Brandon Belt being sent down to Triple-A to work on his swing. So far, so good, as you’ll see. Let’s start with a Top 50 Player and Pitcher of the week, shall we?

Yes, he’s playing in Triple-A Las Vegas, which is a nice place to hit. But I don’t care where you call home, starting a season .425/.468/.712 is just insane. And he’s just 21. This past week, the third baseman had a two-homer game. After going 0-for-4 in his first game of the week, he proceeded to go 11-for-22 (yes, that’s .500) with a double, three homers, five RBIs and two stolen bases. He also committed his sixth error (though it was his only one for the week) as he continues to learn how to play the hot corner. That might be the only reason he’s not getting the call yet.
And here’s all of the hitters to date:

Michael Pineda certainly gets a shout out for his six innings of shutout ball in the bigs, but this week, we’ll go with the young Rangers lefty who looks like perhaps he’s starting to figure some things out in Double-A. Still just 20, Perez tossed five spotless innings on April 19 in a weather-shortened perfecto. Over his last two starts, he’s allowed no runs while yielding just four hits and two walks while striking out 12. He’s got 15 K’s in 13 innings and a .191 batting average against. Still a small sample size, but the stuff has always been there. Now some think he’s starting to turn a corner, which could be bad news for the AL West.

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The Texas Rangers’ Top 10 prospects is now up and available for your perusal. Six of the 10 are pitchers. Here’s one more for your OMG (One More Guy):

Neil Ramirez, RHP: Taken out of the Virginia high school ranks in the sandwich round of the 2007 Draft, Ramirez hasn’t made the fastest ascent up the Rangers’ ladder. Coming out of that Draft, Ramirez was the quintessential projectable prep right-hander with a strong arm, surprisingly good fastball command and less than the greatest feel for his other pitches. He played short-season ball in 2008, but didn’t hit full-season ball in 2009 until June because of an elbow issue. He threw just 66 1/3 innings that year as a result and it was clear that command (41 BB) was an issue. So he went back to Class A Hickory in 2010 and showed some improvement, striking out 142 in 140 1/3 IP while walking just 35, though he did give up 150 hits.

The Ramirez in camp now is not the Ramirez who first joined the Rangers. He went out to Surprise, Ariz., in November to start working towards the 2011 season and it’s clear that projectability is now coming to fruition. Now 21, Ramirez worked hard to add to his 6-foot-3 frame. He got to throw an inning in a big league game recently and was up to 95-98 mph in his inning of work. Ironically, Blake Beavan threw in that game as well, but for the Mariners. Beavan, Michael Main and Ramirez were the prized high school right-handers the Rangers took in the first round of the 2007 Draft. Beavan went to Seattle in the Cliff Lee deal and Main became a San Francisco Giant in the Benjie Molina trade.

So it’s just Ramirez now. He and his three-pitch mix will move to Myrtle Beach to start the year and that’s a very good place for pitchers to thrive. But he may not be there long, with a promotion to Frisco in his sights if things keep going this well.

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At first glance, the Greg Golson-for-John Mayberry trade is one that might be tough to figure out. Two first-round picks, Golson in 2004 out of high school and Mayberry the following year out of Stanford. One a power guy with a little speed, the other with great speed and some developing power. Neither having fully lived up to expectations, but still with potential. Both on the 40-man roster.

The question is: What was the point, really?

Depending on who I talked to, I got a variety of answers. The most common theme was that this was a “change of scenery” trade. The idea behind it is that perhaps both young players will benefit from a fresh start, a chance to learn from different coaches. Sometimes a trade ignites just the right parts of a previously incomplete player and he takes off. Golson is just 23; Mayberry 25. As one scout put it to me: Neither player is an uber-prospect right now, but both can still be pretty good players.

The knock on Mayberry, another scout told me, is that he’s been an underachiever. Everything points to the fact that he should be a prolific power hitter. But he’s been too laid back and relying solely on his talent. That being said, he’s a guy with some pop at a more advanced level of the Minors who might be able to help soon.

Golson, for his part, is a great kid with tremendous athletic ability. He’s made great strides defensively and could play center field in the big leagues right now. Offensively, he still needs some work. He can do many things well, but the hitting end hasn’t come easily. He did hit for average in Double-A, perhaps a good sign, but he does need to find a greatre level of consistency.

In the end, this trade may not seem like much to most fans. And it may never materialize into anything monumental. But it could also end up being good for both teams, as one executive told me, with both guys figuring things out with their new organizations.

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